Below is what Everett Pearson had to say about the false keel:

"Subject: Re: KEEL VOIDS & WATER IN THE HULL'S FIBERGLASS LAMINATE

Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 10:50:17 EDT

The Triton was molded in a one piece mold which made it extremely difficult to lay-up the section just forward of the rudder. Therefore, we made a separate piece which extended from the back end of the keel to a point below the propellor aperture. This piece was filled with urethane foam and bonded with epoxy to the bottom of the hull. Sometimes, when the boats were hauled they were set on timbers where the weight of the hull was borne by this aft section and not on the bottom of the lead keel. This caused some minor cracking and allowed some penetration of water. Some owners drilled a small hole in the forward part of this section to allow water to drain when hauled and prevent freezing. This section filled the area and provided a support for the bottom of the rudder. Otherwise, it is not a necessary part of the hull structure.

In the Ariel the heel was molded as part of the hull and foam was subsequently poured into the back of the hull to fill this deep narrow area. It was then glassed over to prevent water from getting at the foam and to allow for easier cleaning. If you think there is water down in the back of the keel, I would drill a hole at the bottom below the foamed area,drain it, reseal it, and then redo the glass job on the interior over the foam....Everett Pearson"

There is a large section of keel behind the lead ballast that is hollow or filled with foam.  Over time that may fill with water and offer no floatation. Do you have  internal or external keel ballast?  If it's external then the false keel is sealed off from the rest of the boat with GRP but may develop a leak allowing the water in the false keel section only.

When we recieved Protege 6 years ago I did a poor job of repairing the aft section of the false keel ( it had been damaged by the previous owner) and two years later decided to to a much beter job. I cut the bottom edge out of the false heel, layed a 'T' section of 1/4" X 2" SS welded together the full length of the false keel attaching it to the lead balast at the forward end with a 3" SS lag bolt and tappering it and bending it at the aft end to form a very strong edge along the false keel.  We lift our boats twice a year for storage and launch and that is the area the strap lifts from so it has to be strong. After the glassed in 'T' beam was set I drilled a hole in the false keel 10" above the beam and poured 1 litre of
West System epoxy into the false keel then sealed the 3/8" hole after filling the rest of the keel with foam.

You can find the pics and article on the projects & refits section of the Renegae Home Page
http://www.mindspring.com/~ghz

You can contact Rex Miller (the guy who did it to his Renegade) at rex.miller@motorola.com

The 'false keel' that I think is being referred to is the area behind the ballasted forefoot of the keel.  On early boats, the ballast is a molded lead external forefoot, and somewhere around your boat they started molding the entire keel of fiberglass and filling it with lead, then sealing over it.   In the article on early fiberglass boats that appeared in Cruising World, there was a picture of the plug being faired for the first Tritons, and it clearly shows where the early external ballast was to be attached.........

When the Delta yard (who shall remain nameless) pulled my boat , they put a 2 X 4 athwartships underneath the keel directly behind the metal forefoot.  It immediately crushed the fiberglass of the keel resting on top of  it. ..

It seems that the keel is hollow aft of the leaded portion, and capable of being punctured if much of the weight of the boat is placed upon a small area of it.  In retrospect, a 2 X 6 placed along the centerline the lengthof the fiberglass area would have been a  much better idea.

They tried all types of repair... finally, they drilled holes above the curvature of the keels bottom and poured epoxy down into the crushed area and faired the outside.  I am not sure that it ever really sealed.  And to this day, White Cap has a slightly nose high attitude.  It also may be why my cockpit seems to take a little more water on when heeled than most of you report.

I've got the "down by the stern" problem on INKA, East Coast #667 with internal ballast.

It is my understanding that the "false keel" design, on Bristol-built (EC) boats, was changed with hull # 382, when they went to internal ballast as Skip Baker described.  My boat is # 381, so it seems that I may have the last, or one of the last, boats built this way. It was also my understanding that this was found only on EC boats, not on the Sausalito versions.  Perhaps this photo will help those of you without the hollow portion better visualize it.  You can see the line where this hollow portion is attached to the main hull--it runs from the upper gudgeon forward towards where the handle for the jackstand is in the photo, and continues until it intersects with the external ballast, the aft end of which can be seen just aft of the jackstand (barely--just a small gray blob visible, right where the angled after support of the jackstand runs by it).  The hollow part is a separate piece that was attached after the hull was molded. It means that the bilge is shallow, with no deep sump (and no room for water
tanks).

While I don't have any crushing problems from the blocking seen beneath this portion of the keel, I do have a longitudinal crack (pre-existing) on the bottom of the hollow keel, which I need to repair before the boat is launched.  I will be doing this repair later in the spring.  When the boat was delivered to my home, water dripped out of this crack for some time--left over from the previous day, when the boat was in the water for 24 hours for the tow to the mainland from the island where I bought her.

My Triton had major damage at the bottom of the false keel, where you are talking about.  I chopped it all out, fitted a "T" beam of 1/4" SS welded together and laminated it to the keel, attaching one end to the lead using a 3" lag bolt into the keel and the other back to the end of the false keel. Each year since 1995 Protege has been slung twice a year and hoisted out of the water at that location without any issue. I used West System epoxy with both matt and woven glass.  I drilled a 3/8 hole in the false keel, just
above the T beam and poured 1/2 liter epoxy into the keel filling the void around the T beam then patched the 3/8" hole. Think big and heavy duty when you are doing this job!